Ibikerunski from United States, OR Public Profile

My wife and I do short (<30 miles) tandem rides. The bottle keeps water cold for a couple of hours on our shaded routes. The complaint that I have with this bottle is with the 'new' lid. The previous version of the lid worked great. I tossed all of my old water bottles. The old lid design wasn't broken so why did Camelback 'fix' it? This style is still better than most cycling style bottles but not as functional as Camelback's previous version. The bottom line is that Camelback took a great product that they made good.

The shirt/jacket works well for keeping the bugs off. I'm 6-2 175 and bought a size Med. It's snug but fits OK. I have a long neck and big head and the hood works for me. I also have long arms and the sleeves are are a little short for me but this is an issue I have with most long sleeved garments. I use this as a jacket backpacking for around the camp. It works great for that purpose (Note: it isn't warm enough to leave your puffy at home). My main complaint is the zippers are very stiff (especially on the pockets). So far they haven't loosened up with use. I also have this item in the pullover version that I wear hiking in the prime bug season. The 'bug clothing' does work and is much better than rubbing insecticide on your skin.

I've been using NNN-BC bindings since they were first released (at least 30+ years ago). The bindings have outlasted most of the skis I've installed them on. The rubber toe bumper eventually wears out (it usually takes several hundred ski days) but it is an easy replacement. I've used NNN-BC bindings for Telemark skiing on lighter weight skis (<100mm shovel) and they work fine as long as you can find boots stiff enough to turn the skis. The magnum vs the regular NNN-BC is just personal preference on whether you want the automatic or hand throw locking mechanism. If you are replacing a NNN binding with these the attachment holes match. If you are replacing SNS-BC bindings the attachment holes match but you will need to plug one of old holes.

I'm 6'2" and 175 lb and purchased a size large and it fits great (I have two other Arcteryx jackets that I had to get size XL). I usually have issues with sleeve length on jackets but the sleeves on this jacket are long enough for my arms. The jacket isn't cut for the typical US male beer gut so if you've been hitting the hops a little too hard this may not fit. There are several comments about the tight fit on the cuffs and they are tight but my XXXL hands fit through the opening (snug but not a problem). As for the aesthetics, my wife has informed me that she wants me to not wear the jacket playing (ski & hike) but to keep it for around town because she likes how it looks. The jacket is really well made (typical of Arcteryx products).

I really like this vest for the accessibility and convenience of items stored in the vest pockets and that you can add an airbag. It is very well made. However, the pack doesn't have sufficient capacity to carry all of the essential items that one should carry in the backcountry (especially if you are skiing terrain where you need an airbag). The vest has one primary compartment where you have to store any gear that doesn't fit in a pocket with your shovel and probe (i.e. harder to get shovel/probe out in an incident, more hassle getting shovel out to perform stability tests, and higher potential to get emergency gear wet from snow stuck to shovel after stability tests). Solution is to add another compartment on the vest which would make this an extremely versatile pack. Note I'm a Backcountry Ski Patroller and Avalanche Instructor and tend to carry more gear than most people.
One note of caution is the description stated that there was a pocket for an avalanche transceiver in the vest. However, when you take the vest off to access gear in the back compartment you would no longer be wearing a transceiver so don't use the vest for holding your transceiver.